Introduction

The 2013 Chinese eBook Cover Design Contest (“the Contest”) is the first-ever event of its kind in the Chinese World. Its aim is to promote the trend of digital publishing and reading. More importantly, it encourages participation of all Chinese artists in creating digital art and showcasing their talents in this field.

The Contest is organized by eBook Dynasty, an Australia-based publisher of ebooks in both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Having launched its own online bookstore in June 2012, eBook Dynasty offers a tri-lingual platform (Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and English) for the world’s Chinese and English authors to promote their books to readers in the Greater China. This includes China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and overseas Chinese communities all over the world.

Scope and Calendar

As this is the first time an event of such significance is organized in the Chinese World, eBook Dynasty sets out to limit the scope of the Contest to already-published ebooks in Traditional Chinese only. There is a lot of water to be tested, so to speak. However, it is eagerly anticipated that if the 2013 event proves to be successful, the Contest can expand and serve artists in both Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese in future years.

Here is the Contest Calendar:

Official Launch: Early April

Open for Submission: May 1-31

Online Voting: June 15-July 15

Winners Announced: July 31

How to Submit

If you have a book (or more) that has been published as an ebook in Traditional Chinese, please submit your cover design to the Contest. The cover design should be made into two (2) JPEG images whose widths are 200 pixels and 600 pixels. The images should clearly show the title of the Chinese ebook.

Submit your JPEG images as email attachments to eBook Dynasty (ebookdynasty@gmail.com) any time between May 1 and 31. Make the email’s subject be “Submission to 2013 Chinese eBook Cover Design Contest”. State in the email the following items:

Your Chinese ebook’s title,

Your name (or pen name),

Your cover designer’s name (or pseudonym),

Your publisher’s name,

Your Chinese ebook’s promotional web page address, and

A brief introduction (less than 50 words) to you Chinese ebook.

Please note that only already published Traditional Chinese ebooks may be accepted. Once your cover design is submitted, you will receive a confirmation email within 24 hours.

How to Sponsor

The Contest is crowd-funded. While crowd-funding is still a brand new idea in the Chinese world, it is anticipated that those enterprises, businesses, companies, organizations, groups and individuals who have long been supporting arts and literary developments will be keen to offer their sponsorship. Other potential sponsors include writers, cover designers and publishers of Chinese ebooks. Readers will also play a major role in crowd-funding the Contest.

Sponsors will contribute to the total prize money, which, at the end of the Contest, will be divided among the five winners:

First Prize: 50% of the total prize money

Second Prize: 25% of the total prize money

Third Prize: 15% of the total prize money

Two Runner-ups: Each receiving 5% of the total prize money

If you would like to contribute to the total prize money, please go to eBook Dynasty and click on the “Indie Writing and Publishing” LOGO in the lower-left corner. PayPal allows a wide range of payment methods, but charges a small processing fee for each transaction. Therefore, what is received after the processing fee is taken out will be the actual amount you have donated, and an email will be sent to you to confirm this. All donated money will also be publicly declared.

To express its gratitude, eBook Dynasty is offering a free Chinese ebook to those who are willing to contribute NT$300 (~US$10) or more to the Contest. Sponsors are asked to choose one from the following five ebooks in Traditional Chinese:

Voting

Voting will take place from June 15 to July 15. All the submitted Chinese ebook cover designs will be displayed here on this website. Voters are asked to choose their top three Chinese ebook cover designs and list them in an email sent to eBook Dynasty (ebookdynasty@gmail.com). Make the email’s subject be “Votes for 2013 Chinese eBook Cover Design Contest”.

The No.1 Chinese ebook cover design chosen by each voter will receive 3 points, the No.2 design receives 2 points, and the No.3 design receives 1 point. In this way, all submitted Chinese ebook cover designs will be rated in accordance with the number of points they will have received, and those five with the most points will be the winners.

Announcing the Winners

Winners are announced on July 31, and their prize monies will be delivered within a week after that. In the following weeks, each of the winning Chinese ebook cover design will be widely promoted by eBook Dynasty, featuring its author, cover designer and publisher, and their artistic achievements and visions.

If you have any question regarding the Contest, such as how to submit or sponsor, please do not hesitate to contact eBook Dynasty (ebookdynasty@gmail.com). We welcome your participation and will keep you updated on the Contest’s latest development.